Int’l travellers who test COVID positive at the airport will not be allowed to go to their destinations

PTI, Dec 23, 2021, 9:00 AM IST

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Kolkata: International travellers who test positive for COVID-19 after their RT PCR tests at the airport on their arrival to the city will not be allowed to progress to their destinations, the state health department said on Wednesday. “These passengers must be put in separate isolation in any of the health facilities identified for this purpose. Any traveller testing positive for COVID-19 on a later date, who has a history of travel in the last 14 days to a country at risk for Omicron will be subjected to a similar isolation measure as above,” the health department directed. The department said that the airport authorities must ensure that the specimens of the tests are collected on the arrival of the international passengers and sent to the School of Tropical Medicine for genome sequencing.

There should an enclosure, a room or a ward, for separate isolation exclusively for the COVID affected and there should be no mixing with other positive cases.

”The isolation should have separate toilet and bathroom so that there is no mixup with other cases within the facility,” the order said.

According to the order, if the report is negative for the Omicron variant the person may be discharged as per the discretion of the treating physician with intimation to the health department.

“But if the genomic test report is positive for the Omicron variant the case must not be discharged until two successive RT PCRs are done 48 hours apart and are negative,” the order, issued on Tuesday, said.

“The Omicron cases have to be kept in isolation at least till the receipt of genome sequencing report. The health status of the affected travellers should be intimated to the state health department on a regular basis,” it added.